Google officially announced today that future Chrome OS versions will come with support for the company’s Google Play Store, starting with June, and with full support later in the fall. Research firm IDC reported that Chromebooks outsold Macs for the first time during the first quarter of 2016 – a stat Google touted during its announcement Thursday. The same apps that run on phones and tablets can now run on Chromebooks without compromising their speed, simplicity or security.
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With the planned update, Chrome OS users will be able to write term papers on their Chromebook while also checking Snapchat, said Kan Liu, Google’s senior director of product management, at the company’s I/O developer conference. Users will also be able to bring their settings and app credentials from Android to the Chrome OS. To find out if your Chromebook will be gaining integration, see Google’s list of supported Chromebooks.
Google’s Play Store, home to more than 1 million Android apps, is finally moving beyond the confines of Android. Many of these systems will continue to get regular Chrome OS updates for some time yet, since Google’s Chrome OS End of Life policy guarantees updates for at least five years from a device’s release date.
And Google felt what the audience really needs and announced they are going to bring Google Play to Chromebooks. Just like a large number of phone makers develop Android smartphones, a number of PC manufacturers like Lenovo, Acer, ASUS, Toshiba, Dell and HP manufacture Chromebooks.
Unlike Chrome’s web apps, many Android applications also won’t need a constant Internet connection to be useful.
It’s all powered by a containerized Android framework that runs on top of the Chrome OS.
That’s a pretty narrow list to start, but fret not; the list of Chromebooks that will work with Android “later in 2016” is quite extensive.
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Not every Chromebook will be able to take advantage of the new apps. Google says it is working with its partners to launch “some great new devices specially designed for Play” as well.
